Gold Lake Campground (CA)
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 42 mi
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $25From, per site
- Sites
- 3837 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices
In the agency’s own words
Gold Lake Campground (6,445 feet) is on the east shore of Gold Lake, a glacially carved alpine lake. This campground is within easy reach of many trailheads Gold Lake Boating Facility and many other activities. Keep reading
Recreation
Gold Lakes Basin offers a variety of recreational activities including boating, fishing and hiking. A network of over 30 miles of maintained trails branch out across the area, and the Pacific Crest trail can be easily reached from the trail system. Many of the trails are open to hiking, biking and horseback riding, including the 1-mile Grassy Lakes Trail, accessible from the campground. Gold Lake, where a boat ramp is provided, visitors enjoy convenient access to boating and fishing. Once on the water, anglers won't have any trouble trolling for brown and rainbow trout and Mackinaws in the cool, clear waters.
Facilities
There are 38 total campsites suitable for RV and tent camping, standard non-electric sites Each site has a fire ring and picnic table. There are vault toilets and Porta- potties Natural Features The area was formed by glaciers and is characterized by breathtaking mountain scenery--most notably the craggy peaks of the Sierra Buttes and over 20 natural glacial lakes, most of which are accessible by well-maintained hiking trails. The campground sits among fir and aspen trees along Gray Eagle Creek. Mt. Elwell towers to the west. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (530) 836-2575.
What the agency tells you
Generally, campsites will accommodate 2 vehicles. The first vehicle is included in the site fee, the second vehicle fee will be collected onsite at the daily rate posted on the fee sign. Caution! Bears frequent the area; food must be kept in appropriate containers Don't Move Firewood: Protect California's forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. For more information visit firewood.ca.gov. Firewood bundles may be purchased from a Campground Host. Additional boat launch fees apply America the Beautiful, Senior Passes, and Access Passes are accepted for single campsites only. They are not accepted for double or group campsites. Cell phone service is unreliable. Roads to campsites are rutted and rocky
Check- In is 2:00pm and Check-Out is Noon
Campground Map
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 38
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 2 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…a fire ring and picnic table. There are vault toilets and Porta- potties Natural Features The area was…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Mountain biking
- Paddle Boating
- Paddling
- Sailboarding
- Sailing
- Swimming
- Water sports
- Night sky · 478th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 37 of the 38 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $25 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
38 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 37 mapped sitesAll 38 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 38 of the 38 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 37 of the 38 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| Gold Lake | 001 | type not stated | 126 ft | 301 ft | |||
| Gold Lake | 002 | standard nonelectric | 49 ft | 145 ft | 417 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 003 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 162 ft | 464 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 004 | standard nonelectric | 82 ft | 195 ft | 539 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 005 | standard nonelectric | 57 ft | 224 ft | 599 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 006 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 178 ft | 574 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 007 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 178 ft | 584 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 008 | standard nonelectric | 44 ft | 220 ft | 617 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 009 | standard nonelectric | 90 ft | 314 ft | 681 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 010 | standard nonelectric | 105 ft | 324 ft | 649 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 011 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 185 ft | 467 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 012 | standard nonelectric | 110 ft | 176 ft | 325 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 013 | standard nonelectric | 106 ft | 213 ft | 330 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 014 | standard nonelectric | 106 ft | 172 ft | 403 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 015 | standard nonelectric | 139 ft | 105 ft | 498 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 016 | standard nonelectric | 124 ft | 178 ft | 636 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 017 | standard nonelectric | 106 ft | 113 ft | 677 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 018 | standard nonelectric | 106 ft | 106 ft | 761 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 019 | standard nonelectric | 121 ft | 89 ft | 889 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 020 | standard nonelectric | 121 ft | 63 ft | 989 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 021 | standard nonelectric | 69 ft | 80 ft | 1,146 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 022 | standard nonelectric | 2 ft | 63 ft | 89 ft | 1,215 ft | $25 |
| Gold Lake | 023 | standard nonelectric | 63 ft | 79 ft | 1,275 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 024 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | 78 ft | 1,337 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 025 | standard nonelectric | 125 ft | 79 ft | 1,204 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 026 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 93 ft | 1,094 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 027 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 84 ft | 1,053 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 028 | standard nonelectric | 63 ft | 74 ft | 925 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 029 | standard nonelectric | 63 ft | 83 ft | 863 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 030 | standard nonelectric | 73 ft | 84 ft | 541 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 031 | standard nonelectric | 66 ft | 107 ft | 470 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 032 | standard nonelectric | 66 ft | 114 ft | 407 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 033 | standard nonelectric | 100 ft | 95 ftFrazier Creek | 328 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 034 | standard nonelectric | 100 ft | 196 ftFrazier Creek | 428 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 035 | standard nonelectric | 92 ft | 407 ft | 413 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 036 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 391 ft | 339 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 037 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 419 ft | 378 ft | $25 | |
| Gold Lake | 038 | standard nonelectric | 67 ft | 354 ft | 325 ft | $25 |
25 of 38 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the phone number
Where it is
Lakes BasinPlumas National Forest · 1.0 mi
Gold Lake 4 X 4 CampgroundPlumas National Forest · 1.0 miSnag Lake CampgroundTahoe National Forest · 1.1 miLakes Basin CampgroundPlumas National Forest · 1.9 mi
DiabloTahoe National Forest · 3.1 miThe weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Graeagle, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 29°F, day 63°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 17°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Gold Lake Campground (CA) is in California’s 3rd congressional district. Its representative, Kevin Kiley (I), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →